Alchemical Pathworking – A Paris of Long Ago

Alchemical Pathworking – A Paris of Long Ago

Pathworking, or the contemplative process of connecting diverse ideas in our psyche through the use of symbols, has for many come to mean a somewhat purely abstract process. However, as we have shown in our book Kabbalah for Health and Wellness, pathworking can be achieved through several different approaches, one of which is the well-established process of story-telling. Be it the fairy-tales of children or modern virtual reality programs, the process of engaging the imagination to shape our perception of ourselves, our capacities, and reality is the foundational basis of ancient magic and modern psychotherapy. It is also the root factor of all advertising, sales, and public relations.

Thus, the imagination is always in some manner being engaged as the mechanism of communication with the diverse aspects of our consciousness. Our conscious and decisive application of our imagination towards specific aims is the basis of all of our acts of self-awareness and self-actualization.

To this end we are suggesting two historical events for use in your psychic unfoldment. These tales were once fairly well known within the framework of French esotericism, primarily Martinism and Rosicrucianism, as well as alchemy, but in recent years have been harder to come by.

The first is from Paul Sedir, and through me you have a small connection to this luminary of Christian esotericism and the French initiatic tradition of the fin-de-siecle. I have in my possession a letter from one of his last disciples, a woman who kindly responded to my requests many years ago and whose life’s mission became that of keeping the message of her teacher alive for future generations. Thus, in some way, the distance between 2021 and 1921 and the events related below are easily bridged and brought to life for you now.

The second set of events is from the life and record of Eugene Canseliet. Again, we find ourselves in the alchemical milieu of Paris between the tragic European wars of the first half of the Twentieth Century. It is 1923 and Fulcanelli, the mysterious author of The Mystery of the Cathedrals has disappeared. His only disciple Eugene Canseliet would carry on the work of his Master for several more decades and in the 1950s went on a strange trip to Spain. The events appeared in print in 1969 under the title “Invitation to a Strange Castle.” It was here, that Canseliet states that he met once again his old friend, who at that time would be well over one-hundred years of age while not appearing to be half those years.

Since these stories can neither be definitively proven to be true or false and belong to well established historical persons, they lay within the strange and informative twilight zone of the mind wherein we are able to connect to truths and reality outside of time-space as we generally experience it. They train our mind along peculiar lines of thinking and experiencing so that we are open to greater and more dynamic possibilities of our own potential as well as that of others. They give us models of behavior as well of perception, or action and observation. If done with a certain amount of relaxed confidence and regularity they provide a possible gateway into those very experiences and domains which they describe, wherein we are the actor and the acted upon. Simply sit back, relax, and as you read the events that follow, make a clear decision that they are to be a gateway for you to deeper knowledge and assistance on your Path of Becoming. Visualize the events clearly and joyfully, and allow yourself to be all of the characters described, for each has a part of you in them, and they in you. Write down any experiences you may have or dreams as a result. To study any text or subject this way is to transform it from a dry intellectual exercise in the form of Jnana Yoga, wherein the intellect and the knowledge it provides is sharpened and becomes a tool of our enlightenment. It is as some say, The Path of Science wherein we fall under the auspices of the guidance of St. Matthew, who is symbolized by the Angel or Winged Man. He is the energy of Air, of the Intellect, and the energy of life itself. As our knowledge and perceptions increase so too does our realization that ALL is to be understood as an expression of the Naught, of the Ain Soph Aur, and as such can be utilized by us on our Path of Return.

The Stranger
From the works of Mouni Sadhu, as redacted for publication in “Between the Gates – Lucid Dreaming, Astral Projection, and the Body of Light in Western Esotericism.” (Red Wheel/Weiser 2008)

In his memoirs, Paul Sedir states that on a cold and rainy November evening, after returning from visiting patients, he laid down to catch some rest. Suffering from tuberculosis in one lung, he was experiencing nightly fevers, and was filled with an intense emptiness, causing him to be indifferent to everything – even life itself. His book shelves were empty. He had long since disposed of his library and resigned from his numerous positions in many of the leading esoteric bodies of the day – several who he had even helped establish. As Sedir prepared to retire for the evening his doorbell rang. He immediately assumed it was a patient too destitute to pay another physician, as his reputation of never refusing a patient was well known.

The man at his door was a low-level official whose wife was dying of the same disease that scourged Sedir himself. Knowing that her hours were numbered, the man sought relief for his wife’s suffering – the slow death of suffocation as her lungs filled with fluid. Sedir put on his coat, grabbed an umbrella, and followed the man into the bitter evening, towards his house in the Parisian suburbs. Sedir himself suffering from fever and intense chest pains, as they walked through the wind and rain.

As they passed a dim street lamp, Sedir looked up and noticed a tall man, well-built, wearing expensive clothes. On close examination he appeared to be in his forties, with a deep tropical tan, and piercing, yet peaceful eyes. When the pair came closer, the man addressed Sedir with great dignity and politeness, even going so far as to ask him if he was a physician on his way to see a patient! When this was confirmed, the stranger asked if he could accompany Sedir, stating that he may be able to help. Thinking that it could do no harm, as the woman was going to die shortly, if not already dead, Sedir agreed.

Upon arriving at the man’s home, they received the news that his wife had passed while he was gone in search of a doctor. Grief overtook the man as he saw his wife’s waxy corpse, illumined by two candles, one on either side of her head, and her two young children kneeling at the side of her deathbed.

Until now the Stranger was silent, suggesting that Sedir inspect the corpse, Sedir obliged out of courtesy, knowing well that the woman was dead, all that remained was a slight warmth around the solar plexus and stated that she had been dead for about one hour. This statement caused the Stranger to almost smile at Sedir’s credulity as he asked the grieving husband, “Do you want your wife alive? Will you swear to me now, that you will always be good to her, if she comes back?”

Sedir writes:

“The poor man was astonished and almost afraid. “It is not possible! See for yourself! Surely she is dead.” The voice of the stranger went on pitilessly: “I ask you only if you want to have her back again? And will you swear that she will never again suffer from your behavior?”

The man replied that he would take an oath on the Holy Cross, only that it was too late and he could not believe in the impossible.

Then the Unknown Man went close to the bed, took the head of the dead woman gently in his hands, bent down and whispered to her; but everyone in the room could hear his words clearly.

”My dear, my daughter, come back again, return, they need you. It will be favorably counted to you, this sacrifice which you make.”

When we heard that whisper, there was no doubt in us but that she must rise from the dead. There was no power which could oppose the words of the Unknown. The dead woman immediately lifted her head and opened her eyes, looking around as though from another world. ‘I was dreaming,’ ” she whispered.

The Man ordered more lamps to be brought. The old lady and her son went out like automatons, and I felt that they did not yet believe what had happened before their eyes only seconds ago.

When they came back, holding large lamps in their hands, the woman, restored to life, sat up in bed, her face pressed close to the powerful arm of the Unknown, like a child seeking a secure place. She wept.

The Man then took both lamps in his hands and directed the light onto the face of the woman. Before my eyes, the flesh began to reappear under the skin of her cheeks, neck, and shoulders, and the whole complexion returned to its natural color, instead of that of a corpse, which I had seen only seconds ago.”

The Stranger informed Sedir that he was leaving Paris that evening and could accompany him if he wished. He was leaving for Saigon. For eight hours they shared a private compartment, the Stranger revealing to him all that had happened, why, and even what the future held. Yet what is most amazing about the Stranger was not his level of erudition, fluency in a dozen languages, or even clairvoyance, but that in many ways, he was very human. He ate a normal meal, and even offered Sedir a cigarette. Sedir refused stating his lung condition, to which he received the reply, “Do you really feel there is something still wrong in your chest, dear Doctor? Yes, my son, you are cured of your inner faults, so how could the physical ones resist being cured?”

The Stranger never revealed his name, at least not verbally. Sedir states that he received it telepathically. Oddly, upon hearing Sedir’s story, two of his oldest companions stated that they had also met the Stranger. Meeting him twice and confident of a third visit before their deaths.

Take some time with the above practice. If you are uncertain what to image, research images of late 19^th and early 20^th century Paris. There are even a few colorized films from the period that have been digitized and are available online. Listen to music of the period, maybe even drink some absinthe or French red wine. Locate old postcards at an antique shop. The more you can place yourself in the images and feeling of the period, the easier it will be to enter into the journey. While from a slightly later period, I have a tourist guide to Paris from the late 1920s that I have used from time to time – so to speak. Again, it is the talismanic effect that we are looking for here, something to act as a trigger to allow our mind to travel to the experiences we are imagining, to their eternal ‘now’ in the astral domain.

We encourage you to read the essay by Jean Dubuis, “The Path of Qabala” available at: www.portaelucis.fr. In particular, pay attention to the description of the symbolic potentials that may occur. We also warn you to also keep Silent – at least for now until the entire process can unfold – any experiences you may have with these practices.

We quote from the above mentioned essay, “It is specified in the Qabala course that it is not good to discuss personal mystical or psychic experiences resulting from Qabalistic work. There are two essential reasons for this counsel: First, experience has shown that discussing personal experiments usually stops their progression, either temporarily or permanently. The second reason is that the nature of these experiences renders them hardly credible to those who have not had them. Without giving details of these experiences/initiations, there is a certain interest in outlining them. Thus, everyone can understand the mechanism of these phenomena and better locate their progress if the grace of these experiences is granted. Discussions with people who have already studied and practiced Qabala long enough, it appears that many of them have undergone one or more of these experiences. It follows that there are convergence, consistency and confirmation of the teachings of the Qabalah. Our findings are that these experiences occur, sooner or later, in the form of a triple series of three experiments, or nine total experiments. It is likely this phenomenon is repeated four times. However, it doesn’t seem possible to live more than a series of nine total experiences in the same earthly existence.

First series of three experiments We have noted commonalities among those who have experienced them, partly or entirely: 1) Normal waking physical state 2) Symbolism of the crossing of a threshold like passing through a door or a gate, entering a path or entering in a forest, etc. 3) Once the threshold crossed, peculiar or strange feeling. 4) Surroundings dating from a distant past, sometimes centuries, telltale houses and clothes of people present; these people do not seem to perceive the initiate-to be. As for the initiate, let us specify that he should not establish contact with the people encountered. 5) Vision of a chapel, a temple or a large house whose door attracts like a magnet 6) Entry inside the place of worship and attend a service always conducted by Priestesses in orange outfits 7) Exit, return and cross the threshold 8) All is over, and in a few seconds, a small event always prevents us to find the place that has been left and even the threshold. (In one of three experiences, one of us found the entrance, but several years later and after much research. However crossing the threshold did not give rise to any experience). Our conclusion for the first series is that these were Initiations in the following three Sephiroth: Yesod, the Moon, Hod Mercury and Netzach Venus. Insofar as the ceremony of Initiation affords us the leisure, it is likely that the symbols of the relevant Sephira can be found in the initiation chamber.

Then, after a period of between six to eighteen months, we find that some sephirotic functions were awakened. Moon: without changing anything, or at least by changing little, removes all obstacles blocking the Initiatory Path. Venus: gives understanding and authority over nature. Mercury: makes the person is a miniature Thoth-Hermes that will grow with work, whether his choice is that of Magi or Alchemist.”

In Part Two we will explore a journey to an alchemical paradise outside of time in Castile, Spain.

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